


hybrids don't belong to anyone

by KazuaKoizumi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drugs, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Rape, Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-02-18 11:16:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13098957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazuaKoizumi/pseuds/KazuaKoizumi
Summary: they're at a party, Keith gets drugged.  Voltron rescues him and all of them learn the bad part of being an hybrid.





	1. Better alone than with a bad person

**Author's Note:**

> hope you like it!

Keith, being the emo loner he was, thought he could avoid being stuck in a crowd, enable to breath, all those sweaty bodies all moving around in strange but elegant or attractive (or embarrassing) ways, touching each other without even thinking of it. He had never been more wrong.

 

The Gelnokies, an alien people who was characterized by its morphing ability and by its fame of trading anything existing in the universe, had called and invited them for unknown reasons.

 

It turned out, they just wanted to thank Voltron for freeing their best suppliers providers from the Galras.

 

Keith had never seen Coran so excited. Allura 's eyes were full of joy as she saw their "king" (but he was just the richest in the planet) turning into a male Altean with pale skin and long blue markings on his cheeks.

 

Anyway...now Keith sat on a jelly blue chair (and it was just so comfy...), in an angle full of strange alien couples. The king had explained anyone could take the look he wished, nobody would have questioned it. The problem in accepting the partner of a person was just their ability of selling stuff.

 

There were beautiful men or women (humanoids species) who were married to strange and horrible being. He saw a beautiful humanoid being kissed by what looked like a green mosquito. Seriously.

 

He didn't want to try the stuff the bar man was selling, he didn't want to poison himself.

 

The red lights and the strange music was too much for him: the strange music seemed Chinese traditional music and they were dancing as if it was disco music or pop.

 

He felt the sound's vibration trough the floor . It was making his stomach feel strange.

 

He looked around, finding Lance whining at Hunk about the transformation thing. The yellow paladin patted him on the back reassuringly, while Pidge snickered. Then Hunk guided him out, in the strange green garden that looked so much like an Earthling one. Too much. The one that owned it had certainly been on Earth.

 

Then someone tapped him on the right shoulder and he looked up, finding Shiro looking at him with his gentle dark eyes. He had a strange blue jelly cup with a strange coloured liquid in it.

 

"Hey, you look uncomfortable here. Come with me". And Keith nodded. He stood up and followed him.

 

The air was hot but not too hot, and it reminded him of the desert when the sun was setting. The sky was violet, dark violet, but he liked it. It was calming and comforting. Was Shiro heading to the exit? It looked like it.

 

"We can't go. Allura would kill me and ..."Before he could finish his sentence, Shiro grabbed him by his hand and pulled him towards the exit. Keith started trashing, pushing him in. Shiro was acting strange.

 

"Come" He was ordering him around, and then Keith started squirming, trying to make him understand they couldn't. He knew Shiro was stronger than him physically, so he could just try to reason with him. Then he stopped. He sighed and smiled softly.

 

"Ok, ok...don't worry. Come sit. Let's calm down a bit, shall we?". Keith looked at him with wide eyes. Had he misunderstood anything or was Shiro drunk? He didn't seem drunk. Keith felt stupid and agreed, following him again, in silence.

 

Shiro and him sat on what looked like a blue sofa made of jelly, but it felt really like a sofa from Earth.

 

Shiro handed him the cup he previously had. Keith was surprised by the fact he hadn't dropped it in all that movement.

 

Keith looked at the strange glass and analysed the substance. Did Shiro sip it? Was he acting strange because of it? Or...was Keith too much of a loner and didn't understand his true intentions?

 

"Drink it, it's good". It sounded a lot like an order , but it was okay. He had to calm down. It was Shiro after all. Shiro should have had a really good reason to order it to him, probably force him to open up a bit to new experiences and maybe make him feel a little less awkward. So he drunk a sip. It was too bitter, and Keith didn't like it at all.

 

"No, you have to drink it all in one, or it would taste horrible". Keith sighed and decided that Shiro was his brother and he was so stressed right now, so he would make him happy for once.

 

He grabbed the glass with both hands and drunk it all in one. It was difficult. He needed to breath, but he managed.

 

He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all, it was too bitter for his taste. His mind felt strange…he had to tell Shiro, but…where was him? Did he return back there? In the crowd? He got up, his legs were so heavy… where was him again? He was…? He was at a party, and… the colours of the world mixed and he finally remembered Shiro was still on the sofa. Behind him… He had to tell him something, but he didn’t remember what. Could he still talk? He mumbled something, about the drink, then he waved at him.

 

Keith felt his head fly, his body felt too heavy… he just wanted to sleep. Where was he again? Where those behind the fountain Lance, Pidge and Keith? No, wait, he was Keith, so that had to be someone else. Hunk?

 

He couldn’t move any more. He just wanted to sleep. The world started spinning again, lights and colours mixed, they started circling around him. It hurt him.

 

He closed his eyes.

 

He couldn’t manage to open them again. He didn’t even want to. He wanted to sleep.

 

His head became really heavy, his body too. He couldn’t stay up right, he saw the ground get near.

 

He found himself in Shiro 's embrace. The cup wasn't any more in his hands, it was on the ground. Keith's head was on Shiro 's chest. The boy felt strange. Tired.

 

Something yellowish and jelly was tightening around his arm. It was really cold. He felt something on his cheek. Shiro was caressing him.

 

Then, he saw something yellowish in front of his face, but he didn't know what it was. He couldn't bring the pieces together. He closed his eyes.

 

Then he felt something cold, long, soft and clammy, slip in his mouth, in his throat. It stole his breath, it was worse than drowning. He tried to pull away, but his body didn’t follow his orders…. Why bother? It was Shiro afterall……

 

Shiro 's strong body, was replaced by something jelly and viscid.

 

He felt himself being lifted up by arms and legs, into thin air. He couldn't open his eyes. He didn't feel as if he had a body. He was so tired...

 

Then the strange clammy thing in his mouth slipped out, and he felt other things like that tightening around his body. Someone was lifting him up. Something....was lifting him up. It was moving, taking him somewhere. That's when he heard cries in the distance, but it was a muffled sound. But Keith couldn't help but surround to his own tiredness.  

 

 

 


	2. Appearance can trick you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the others point of sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have any idea how this will end, so I'm open to suggestion. Also, I'm italian, if you notice a mistake report it! I need to learn :)

"Lance, come on. We have to go back!" Hunk yelled "You're being a baby!"

 

"I'm not! THEY CHANGE FORME! Think about it! I'm hitting on a beautiful alien or on a beautiful insect who seems to want to suck on my head and hug me with its filthy six--"

 

" Okay, okay. We are staying outside, but not here. In the garden, so if space mum and space dad find us, we can say we had to catch a breath" Pidge concluded. They all liked the plan so they returned back, passing the exit and quietly moving on the grass, trying to avoid the space family's adults.

 

Pidge suddenly stopped and rushed behind a beautiful fountain. Lance and Hunk bumped into her.

 

Lance was going to ask what was going on, but she slapped a hand on his lips and pointed to Shiro and Keith, who were sitting on a blue jelly sofa.

 

Shiro gave the boy a cup. Keith tasted it, but didn't seem to like it judging by his expression.

 

Shiro seemed to be encouraging him, and then the red paladin drunk it all in a sip.

 

"What a bad space dad we have. Encouraging the oldest of his sons to drink alcohol" Lance muttered grinning.

 

Keith got up and took some steps, swaying, towards the building where the party was still going on. He was suddenly too pale. He mumbled something, that seemed like “I still ….I still don’t like it…”Shiro following him. The red paladin raised his hand, to wave him away, his eyes dull, he whispered “I feel funny…” and…all of sudden he stopped moving, going perfectly still.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

 He fell in Shiro 's embrace. The cup falling down with a thud while his right arm fell on his side, limp.

 

Keith's eyes expression seemed to have lost all of its fierce and intelligence, and he looked like a rag doll in the black paladin's hands.

 

"Oh my gosh! Keith can't hold a single cup of alcohol! Pidge! Do you have something to record it?"

 

Keith seemed really tired, and Shiro was fucking grinning while he dragged him to the sofa, he seemed amused by the situation.

 

"No. Sorry" She said. Maybe Keith had stubbornly insisted he could hold a bit of space alcohol, and he had wanted to prove it to Shiro. But now he was too still. Lance had never seen him so still in his life. It was....scary.

 

"I don't know. Should we help? He seems sick" Hunk said.

 

" Serves him right" Lance muttered.

 

They would never be prepared enough to what they were going to see.

 

There was a strange yellow tentacle coming from Shiro 's back. It started tightening around Keith's right arm, but the boy didn't seem to recognize it, or even feel it. He was like asleep, but with opened eyes, and blinking. He seemed so confused and lost.

 

"Guys? Is Shiro an alien? I didn't know it. Did you?" Hunk asked breathless.

 

Then the man started caressing his left pale cheek, and Keith didn't even look at him. He was so still.

 

Another tentacle erupted from Shiro 's back, but this time, it tightened around Keith's neck and touched his lips asking for an opening. Then it slipped in his mouth and they all saw Keith's form tense, before going limp again.

 

Lance wanted to move. To take him away, but he just couldn't. He couldn't move. He was terrified.

 

"Maybe Keith and Shiro are a couple and they are both aliens?" Hunk tried. He was so pale...

 

"Or...or maybe, that's just a couple of those aliens who has taken their forms" Pidge whispered. He was too still…

 

The yellow tentacle exited the red paladins mouth, and they saw a bit of saliva connecting Keith's mouth to it. Shiro 's form slowly morphed in the one of a tall and slim yellow jelly alien, with white eyes. It's tentacles were all tightening around  Keith's body, as he seemed to have passed out.

 

"They are just those aliens..." Hunk sighed comforted.

 

"Why hasn't the other changed form?" Pidge asked.

 

And the alien lifted Keith in front of him, to analyse him. As if he was looking at an object he had to sell. Then, he tightened his grip and took him close to his chest. He was like…carrying him bridal style.

 

Keith was so fucking still, and pale, and his body was too limp…his lips seemed to turn blue. That made Lance wake up from the shock.

 

"Because that's our Keith. And it has drugged him" Lance realized and before the yellow jelly alien could escape he run in front of him yelling "Where do you think you’re going with him?!"

 

He turned around, without leaving Keith. He wasn’t breathing.

 

"Hunk, go call Shiro. NOW!" Pidge ordered, and the boy didn't need to hear it twice. He run inside, while she run to Lance.

 

"Him?" The alien asked.

 

" Yes, him"

 

" Did you even give it a name?" He asked, looking at Keith confused.

 

"YES. He's KEITH! He's our red paladin! He's not an object!"

 

" Oh, sorry, I didn't know the hybrid had already an owner" He answered, and his tentacles unwrapped, making Keith fall to the ground with a thud. Pidge dropped next to him, and shook the boy, with no avail. She took him in her embrace, looking at the yellow alien with pure fury.

 

"But if you're willing to trade, I would pay for him as much as you want".

 

Lance felt the anger boil in his veins, he clenched his fists.

 

"He's....NOT an object" Pidge practically menaced him.

 

“ But if you want to think about it..."

 

"We're not selling him"

 

"I wouldn't neither. It's a pity you found him before me. Goodbye". And then he walked inside, leaving them with an unconscious and really pale Keith who was miraculously breathing. Pidge shook him again, but Keith’s body was totally abandoned, as if his mind had left him forever, flying away.

 

“Lance, he doesn’t wake up! Why doesn’t he?”. Lance had never seen her so sad. She was on the verge of tears, her eyes dared to ruin her cheeks with their drops.

 

Lance lifted him up, with the help of Pidge. His arm fell limply on the side, while his head fell back, rolling to the side. It made them sick. Keith was never so...so still. He would have snapped at them for ever thinking of touching him that way, and he was a really light sleeper. It was scary.

 

Lance put him on the sofa, with a bit of effort. He was trying to not move him too much.

 

He touched his cheek and shook him, trying to make him wake up, but nothing happened. So he slapped him,  earning a gasp from Pidge, but not a movement from that tired boy.

 

Pidge took the glass on the ground, finding there was still a bit of that strange liquid. She smelled it, it seemed really sweet.

 

"He thought he was Shiro. Of course he listened to him...oh my..." Lance grabbed his own hair, then sat next to the boy and shook him again, stronger "Wake up….”

 

Then they saw Shiro run there so fast... they had never seen him so scared. Then he saw Keith, and calling him, he reached the boy.

 

He took his hand, and touched his pale skin. Then he shook him, yelling his name desperately. His head rolled over, and Shiro stopped horrified. He checked for his pulse and sighed in relief ,falling to his knees, when he felt it. But it was really faint and slow. Shiro ’s breath shuddered, he was trembling.

 

He had to know he was okay. He had to know. Was he breathing at least? Was his chest rising and falling repeatedly?

 

 He put a hand over his mouth and waited. That little fragment of time seemed to last decades, but then…. He felt hot air in his palm. He was breathing.  He smiled relieved.

 

Hunk, Allura and Coran arrived soon after him.

 

"Oh my...is he okay?" Hunk asked.

 

"I found this. Coran, what is it?" Pidge gave the altean the cup, and he smelled it. Then he put a hand on Keith’s cheek and moved his head. He shook him, but he was just so lifeless. Hunk tried not to puke.

 

 “Let’s return to the castle. I will explain everything there” He declared. Shiro got up and gently lifted the boy up, one of the arms fell over, and Lance picked it up, putting it in Keith’s lap. It was horrible to see him like that, but…. Right now they couldn’t do anything.

 

 


	3. Wake up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith opens his eyes. Is everything really okay?

 

“That drug doesn’t do anything too bad to the body” Coran explained. They were all watching Keith sleep in the healing pod. He seemed dead: his already pale face was lightened by the blue lights inside of it, making his skin look brighter.  His eyes were closed and to them, they were daring to never open again. At least he seemed peaceful.

 

“So…why Is he like that?” Hunk asked, curious.

 

“It’s a common liquid drug. It makes the mind relax. Half cup of it, and a male adult full galra goes out for a day” he explained.

 

“But …Keith isn’t a total adult, and he isn’t full galra, and he drunk more than half….”  Hunk inquired. Coran sighed.

 

“They usually use it on hybrids, don’t worry. That alien wanted Keith alive, he would have never ruined one of the most precious of his wares”

 

“Wares?”

 

Allura sighed and stepped in the conversation “Hybrids never have an easy life: people search for the most beautiful and attractive just to make them their servants or …or to…use them for mating rituals. It’s a really popular market, and...Keith is half human, a never seen alien species, and in a good shape. He would be sold really quickly to a really high price”.

 

The paladins were horrified.

 

“ Hybrids are not considered…worthy of rights, because most of the aliens think they don’t belong to any planet, to any people. They think hybrids shouldn’t have a strong personality like his, they have to be pretty, and…defenceless” Coran continued.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Shiro asked in a whisper. He was so angry, and sad…his little brother had been drugged, raped, and had been about to be taken, and where was he? Inside, totally oblivious! He would have known too late!

 

“We didn’t think they would recognize him as a hybrid. He’s too human”

 

Shiro placed a hand on the glass of the healing pod. He promised himself he was going to protect him.

**_________________________________**

 

Keith didn’t wake for a week.

 

No one of them had thought a simple drug could knock him out. He was just…just too Keith to end in a so stupid and horrendous situation.

 

Shiro checked on him when he could, and on the dinner table, he didn’t talk. He had snapped at the Genolkie ’s king! In front of everyone! And nobody knows how he didn’t kill him with his galra arm for saying “So, the hybrid’s not your property?”.

 

When they found the strange alien who had tried to kidnap Keith, they actually had to stop him physically.

 

And that fucking alien, not understanding what was happening, had taken Shiro ’s shape again, and he had fucking complimented him for his strong form.

 

At the end of the day, they found Shiro collapsed against Keith’s pod.

 

He seemed really tired. They had never thought that Shiro could be so …attached to Keith. They knew they were like brothers, but they never showed that much affection between each other.

 

They had never seen them hug each other as Lance and Hunk did, or Hunk an Pidge…or Hunk and anyone who was friendly towards him. The point was, they didn’t expect …THIS.

 

Maybe Keith was too emo to do that, because Shiro had hugged Pidge, and once Lance when he found him suffering from his homesickness, or Hunk. So the problem had to be Keith.

 

Hunk carried Shiro to his room stating “I’m not going to make him have a backache and distract during a mission and get kidnapped. Keith would kill us” .

 

When Keith’s pod opening was announced they sprinted so fast the hallways seemed short. Their hearts were running at the same speed of their legs. All of them were worried in their own way.

 

They all felt sorry for not being there for him, for having let him alone. Being a part of team Voltron, meant you could never be alone, because you were always in possible danger (being too valuable in the universe) and because they were family, and every member was important, and they went through everything together. They had let Keith alone, they weren’t going to let him wake up together.

 

Shiro was the first to arrive, in time to catch a freezing and falling Keith. He still seemed weak in that white suit, in spite of the muscles he had trained with so much determination.

 

Shiro was already mumbling something about Keith being safe and okay. He was hugging him as if the boy would have disappeared if  he had let him go. He ruffled his black hair, smiling with affection. Keith’s body was almost abandoned on him, his legs didn’t seem to know how to hold him anymore, and his eyes were lost in space, glassy, with no light, while his head rested on Shiro’s shoulder.

 

The room fell completely silent when Shiro noticed that Keith was still trying to focus on something, his mind tired. He wasn’t trying to escape from him, he wasn’t moving his body.

 

They were all looking at him: Pidge and Coran were already analysing him with their eyes; Lance was leaning on Hunk, both of them worried.

 

Shiro? He had a terrible feeling about Keith. Something was definitely wrong. He tried not to move, trying just to support him. He needed his time.

 

He looked at him, blinking. His eyes had trouble focusing, and he wasn’t showing signs of real consciousness.

 

Hunk beat his bottom lip, trying to stay calm. He was fidgeting.

 

A moment passed.

 

Two moments…

 

Keith seemed blinked again, this time…actually focusing. The light seemed to bother him, as he shut his eyes fast. He moved his hands up the black paladin chest, putting them on his shoulders. He pushed on them to help himself balance, while he tried to open his violet eyes again. He still couldn’t. The light was too strong. He fought against the pain, that burning feeling, and forced himself to adjust to his surroundings.

 

Shiro waited impatient, not moving a muscle. He had seen Keith this near just a few times, and those weren't good times for Keith. He saw him open and close his eyes frustrated and it almost made him smile. He was trying so hard…

 

He lifted his head and then…then he finally did it. He showed his beautiful amethysts. Shiro smiled reassuringly at him. He had never seen them so close! Was he fine? He seemed just tired.

 

Lance had gotten him in time. He was going to treat that boy with every regard.

 

But then Keith had to ask that question, he just had to say those three horrible words. Everything was fine until he spoke!

 

_“Who are you?”_

 

Everything came crushing down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, really guys. I need a bit of help or suggestion. I'm out of ideas and I don't want to let it incomplete.   
> It's the most horrible thing you can do to a reader!


	4. First day awake: the pink fog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's awake. They have to deal between memories and the drugs after effects.  
> There will be much more severe, but for now, let Keith breath just a bit, before returning to reduce him as a dead corpse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for being sooo late, but I've been protesting against italian government to get heaters in our schools.  
> They actually listened this time, it's been years since we started freezing. You knew in Canada and Olanda things work so good they don't need to do protests?! That's crazy, right?  
> Wtf, Italy is so messed up.   
> By the way, it's called "Arancina" (because it's a female name in italian), not "Arancino".  
> And it's written "CANNOLI". Okay, I'm stopping, before my italian/sicilian pride takes over.  
> Thanks for all your support!   
> Every comment has been read, loved but... not answered. Buuut, I will put everything you said.  
> Don't worry.   
> Thanks again (I didn't expect people to like this).  
> Love you!

They all thought  there would be some after effects, but this?! This was … wow. They didn’t even know how to act around him, because no one really knew Keith enough. Neither Shiro knew him perfectly, even if he was the only one to know most of his backstory.

 

Keith was really calm about it, he didn’t lash out, he didn’t try to escape. He was also really quiet and didn’t seem to recognize them as enemies.  He was curious about Coran’s ears, but he just stared at them, silent.

 

His violet eyes were really curious, tired but lively.

 

Shiro had sighed, his heart racing. He was trembling. Keith… didn’t recognize him.

 

“My name is Takeshi Shirogane, but for you it’s Shiro”. He didn’t answer. Was it too soon to tell him where he was and how he ended up there? He must be really confused…

 

“Mine is Kathie, but you can call me Pidge” She said smiling. She felt horrible. She should have recognized him sooner that night. He was in this mess because they let him alone…

 

“I’m Hunk, and I think I am going to prepare you some good food!” Hunk left as soon as those purple irises  fixed on him, turning him in a nervous mess.

 

“I am Allura and he is Coran” she said, smiling. It was her fault! She had taken them there! She had let the red paladin alone! Now they couldn’t form Voltron and Keith was certainly going to suffer from this for …for some time. She had to look after them! They fought for her, she had to pay them back somehow. She had to protect them. What a useless princess she was.

 

They had almost lost Lance and Shiro already.

 

The room fell quiet. Lance was looking at the ground, his hands in his pockets. His face angry. Why? Keith had forgotten about him…AGAIN. Was he really that invisible to him? Okay, it wasn’t his fault this time, he didn’t remember Shiro. Really. But… it still hurt! And he knew now he should have stayed with him. Why was he always angry at Keith?!

 

Someone pushed him forward. He turned around. It was Pidge.

 

“The name’s Lance” he said quietly . Keith stared at him confused, raising an eyebrow, pouting. He crossed his arms to his chest, while Shiro steadied him. Did he recognize him?

 

“If you have any questions, ask” Allura spoke smiling reassuringly.

 

There was this tense silence, that kept all of them on the edge. If Keith didn’t recognize them, he could see them as dangerous, and try to escape. They had to be careful around him.

 

 He surely couldn’t trust them, but…

 

“Did you kidnap me?” He asked Shiro, too calm. The man paled, looking at him with wide eyes. Keith’s face was stoic.

 

“Why would we—“ He stopped himself. He didn’t remember. “You might not believe me, but no. We are friends”

 

Keith didn’t seem really convinced, but there was something strange in him, not trying to run away, not trying to punch Shiro to get away…  
“We are going to explain it at the table. You must be hungry”

 

__________________________________________________________

Keith didn’t show if he believed them or not. He was really too calm for his normal being. And when the ‘bandana boy’ took those plates with a so strange food, he didn’t say anything about it. Now they were all sitting at the table, in silence, confused. They didn’t know where to start.

 

He looked at them, as if finding himself with strangers in a place like that wasn’t strange. Pidge had her computer on the table. Coran was helping her figuring the problem out, sending him strange looks.

 

Keith didn’t even look at his food, he seemed tired thought. His shoulders dropped, his gaze less attentive, finding its way to the floor.

 

“Keith, could you tell us what is the last thing you remember?”

 

Keith’s lips parted, to say something, but then they closed. He didn’t know what to say. He still didn’t look at them. He didn’t want to talk, he didn’t want to stay with those people. Where was he anyway?

 

They saw him tense.

 

“…Keith?”

 

He felt so tired… his mind didn’t want to think about anything. Did it matter? Did anything matter?  He knew he had to answer Pidge.

 

“My name…?” His appearance. Was it important to him? There was a strange fog that made him dizzy. Did he really want to remember?

 

“Your house? Your family? Something else?” That strong fog was covering everything else, and he didn’t feel the urge to remember. Was that a bad thing?

 

“No…”

 

“Planet?” Coran asked. Planet? “A place to go back?”

 

He didn’t have anywhere to go. He wouldn’t go anywhere. What if he escap—

 

He felt a strong wave of dizziness hit him. Suddenly the fog surrounded him, not hiding totally the room, not suffocating him, but… it invaded everything. It just covered the floor.

 

Everything seemed funny, happy… he didn’t want to go away. Why going away? Why did he think of…. Of what?

 

“No”

 

“We come from Earth” Shiro answered. The fog retrieved, like offended. Curling on itself, angrily, as if it was alive.

 

Earth? Should he go back there? Should he esca—

 

No. Here was good. Staying was good.

 

“Eat” and he could not resist to that command. He knew it would hurt to do that. Why bother? The fog was there… it made everything better.

 

 Shiro suggested that showing him around the castle could help. That’s why they were walking between the hallways of the castle (All of them but Pidge and Coran, who were working on the drug structure)

 

They all agreed silently to not show him the training room before he was back to health. It was for safety!

 

What surprised him the most was… Keith let them do whatever they wanted to him! Touching, hugging, squishing and dragging around!

 

Keith was never so… concessive. They knew he loved them, even Lance, but he was never like that.

 

He didn’t seem to like Shiro that much. He didn’t reject him but he didn’t seem at ease with him. Was it his metal arm? Was it the scar on his nose? The white hair? Something was wrong with Shiro and he needed to fix it.

 

“These hallways are really big” Hunk said

 

“But this is a castle, so, it’s has to be this big” Lance replied thoughtfully

 

“Isn’t it a space ship?” He asked confused. God, having Keith like that was so strange. Lance felt the urge to  snap at him, telling him he was an idiot, for not knowing that. But he couldn’t. It wasn’t Keith’s fault.

 

“It’s also that” Shiro said with a calm voice.

 

“You know we are in space, right?” Lance asked. Keith didn’t answer, was he ignoring him? Some things don’t change.

 

Keith didn’t remember the structure of the castle, so showing him around should have helped him in the next days, if the problem persisted, and Pidge and Coran didn’t find out anything.

 

They showed him the bedrooms. Lance’s was really clean: the wardrobe was full of creams and altean dresses he used, the bed sheets were personalized  aaaand… the fantastic videogame. (There were also things he had made Pidge build for him). When he noticed Keith looking curiously at his creams, he said he was going to make him try them someday. Then he started talking about the properties of each one of them, and Keith seemed really interested. Hunk and Shiro seemed to be suffering also physically for the boredom ; while Hunks was full of notes  about the alien food and engineering projects. He asked Keith to pick one receipt for the following day and he was really confused. He didn’t know what to choose, and kept looking at them. He seemed afraid of let-down Hunk and kept looking at him for advice.

 

Hunk stood there smiling reassuringly, yet expectantly, making him become red like a tomato. He hoped to help him cooking something special for him, something he loved. Hunk knew Keith secretly loved the alien version of roasted beef steak, spiced with the white and creamy tartar sauce. He hoped he would remember at least what it looked like, but that was not the case. Keith didn’t know what to pick.

 

“Pick the chocolate!” Lance yelled out of nowhere, pointing at one note on the wall.

 

“Shut up, Lance! He will choose what he wants!” Hunk replied. He just needed more time!

 

Keith seemed really battled, looking between the both of them. He felt the urge to give both of them whatever they wanted, but he couldn’t. He didn’t really want the one that Lance picked, so if he choose that one he wouldn’t fulfil the task Hunk had given him. What did he want? The fog surrounded him more and more, gently caressing him, but at the same time suffocating him. He started trembling, looking at the ground, crossing his arms to protect himself. They all felt guilty at that, and blessed at the same time, because scared Keith was a really cute Keith.

 

“Wait, wait” Hunk said. Keith’s purple eyes shined in the room, under his black hair “You don’t remember the tastes. We’ll pick Lance’s and then, after trying a lot of them, you will choose. Okay?”

 

The pink fog… was it pink now? Retrieved, returning to covering the floor.

 

They wanted to show him his room. Pidge’s was… too messy and they all knew she would kill everyone entering without her being present. So, hers was not an option.

 

Shiro was too fucking clean. There was almost nothing. Even him collected stuff from the planets they went (small rocks, and things Pidge had built to ease stress), also, there were altean things to exercise. There was also a little stuffed black cat, made in a bad way, but it was still pretty. Shiro knew Keith didn’t remember he had done it for his stress with the help of the mice. It broke his heart. He patted Keith’s back, smiling reassuringly.

 

“If you have any problems, come to me. I will help you as I can, okay?” He smiled. Keith didn’t answer. Did he scare him that much?

 

He hoped not.

 

He sighed.

 

They all wanted to see it. Nobody ever entered there, too afraid of pissing him off.

 

They all expected it to be messy, they expected it to be so clean it would shine, but still there should have been something of him. Something that could make him remember.

 

There was nothing.

 

It was worrying. They all made their room theirs. There was something of them in each of their rooms.

 

Keith’s was so empty. Everything seemed so spacious and bright there. There was nothing…  

 

How could they help Keith remember, if Keith himself had nothing to base himself on?

 

Should they start to worry about him? He was alone at that party, even if they were so near him. And his room felt so lonely, but they were all in the castle, just a wall separating them.

 

That made them feel so guilty…

 

“Are we sure it’s his?” Lance whispered, hoping it was just a mistake. Shiro nodded slowly.

 

The silence made the tension even stronger.

 

“Do you want us to go out?” Hunk asked. Keith didn’t answer, he looked around.

 

The pink fog was starting to raise again, really slowly, but it wasn’t trying to get to him. It was going up the bed, slipping under his cushion. Why there?

 

They all saw Keith look at his bed, as if he was hypnotized. He slowly took a step forward, his movement guided by curiosity, his purple eyes fixed on it.

 

That pink fog started becoming thicker, heavier, trying to block his movements. But he reached it. He got to that fucking cushion. He moved it.

 

They saw him tremble vehemently. Shiro reached for him, but Lance had to stop him.

 

Keith dived in that pink fog, finding something sharp. The pink smoke started to become thicker, attaching to his arm, trying to block him. But he took it. He saw it.

 

A knife, with a glowing sign.

 

He had already seen it. It was everything he had. Everything his—

 

…

 

Shiro saw him dropping his arm, while his hand opened, releasing the dagger, which fell to the ground with a metalling sound. Was he okay?

 

He saw his shoulders drop, while his legs became unstable. He lose balance, falling on the left side.

 

Lance was faster. He saw it coming. He run fast enough to get him, before he smacked his head against the metal part of the bed. 

 

Even this time Shiro didn’t get it in time. Even this time, Hunk went calling for help. He could just pick up the pieces.

 

“Keith?”  Lance patted his cheek, which was again so pale… “Keith?!”

 

His eyes stayed closed. His body totally abandoned. He seemed asleep. Again.

 

Shiro picked him up gently, taking him away from Lance. He looked at him, feeling his heart jump in his chest, while his mind tried to reassure him.

 

He put him on his bed, telling himself he was just asleep. Was this another side effect?

 

He checked his pulse. It wasn’t that weak, but it wasn’t that strong neither. That wasn’t normal.

 

“Shiro…” A quiet voice called him, blue eyes so sad… “he was remembering” Lance whispered. His voice trembling. The  dagger in his hand.  

 

That dagger….

 

“It hurt him” he said quietly. He knew where this was going. Pidge and Coran could just confirm that “If it hurts him, he shouldn’t try to remember”

 

“Lance…”

 

“I’m going to hide this, till he is okay… he will be”

 

“Lance…”

 

Lance was still terrified. He had saw him getting raped. He had recognized him. He had saved him. He had had to deal with that alien.  He was still a boy. An old boy, but a boy.

 

He took him in an embrace.

 

“Everything will be okay”

  
“He won’t remember us”

 

“He will”

  
“Hurting himself…”

 

“We’ll find a way”

 

“He won’t remember you” that hurt in Shiro’s chest. “He won’t remember me” he whispered. Then he murmured, so quietly, Shiro imagined he had heard him:

_“ He never remembers me”_


	5. Hybrids don't belong anywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith starts acting stranger and they notice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for being late. Hope you are still reading.  
> Don't hate me!  
> (Still open to suggestions XD)

What Pidge and Coran told them in that horrible infirmary, made them all tremble with fury:

 

“The drug in his system will wear off in a few days, but his memories won’t come back”

 

Keith was half asleep on a bed, with Hunk supporting him so he could stay seated in an educated way and at least pretend to be understanding what they were talking about.

 

Shiro was trying to stay calm, clenching his fists, passing his hands through his hair, walking around the room. He just couldn’t stay put.

 

“O…okay” Lance nodded “So, what is going to happen to Keith? Like… he was strange before, but now he’s stranger because he’s not… strange”  
Coran nodded, touching his moustaches “ There are other side effects in fact”

 

Shiro thought it was going to end, but no. The universe had decided to destroy Keith not caring of all those terrible years he had to fight just to arrive there.

 

“The drug changed: it is prepared to make the hybrid more… “ Coran tried to find the most delicate word to say it, looking around the room. He bit his lip and waved with his hands. There wasn’t one.

 

 Pidge had to end his sentence with a low tone of voice. It wasn’t easy for anyone: “submissive, easier to enslave”

 

It was terrible to think, it was even more terrible to hear.

  
“We don’t know at what point it will repress his personality, since he is a human hybrid ”

 

“What does that mean?” Shiro asked again, looking at Keith who really didn’t seem to mind being jailed in Hunk’s strong arms. Hunk was looking at him worried, battling with himself, telling himself not to pet him .  Keith’s head rested against the yellow paladin chest, and he was pouting, trying to listen.

 

“That the drug is making him relax with everyone. He wouldn’t even try to defend himself from the Galras ”

 

“He can’t fly the red lion like this…” Allura whispered.

 

“That’s not the point!” Pidge snapped “Look at him! He’s not anymore our Keith!”

 

Hunk felt Keith barely tense. Was he scared? Should he let Pidge know?

 

He was still listening to them, with that curious expression. Maybe he wasn’t scared.

 

Anyway, while the others argued he felt the urge to hug him tight and to pet him, and he just couldn’t resist. He interlaced his fingers with the locks of his black hair, stroking him. When Keith raised his gaze, and those glassy purple eyes fixated on him, he felt his heart pang. He stopped. Was he angry?!

 

Judging by the way Keith let his head rest on his chest, slowly closing his eyes and smiling so lazily and graciously… no. He couldn’t be.

 

He kept stroking him in silence, smiling at him. Was Keith liking it?!

 

He was really relaxing, it was amazing!

 

“Hunk? What are you doing?” Lance asked

 

“Look” he whispered, while petting the boy with a smile. Keith leaned in the contact, almost falling asleep “he likes it”

  
“He…is letting you do that?” Allura asked worried.

 

“It’s the drug. It’s absolutely the drug” they all agreed with Lance. This wasn’t…negative. It was really embarrassing for Keith, it would be once he would return in himself, but… a bit of hugs and cuddles wouldn’t hurt anyone. He didn’t hate being hugged.

 

It  was a horrible situation, but they could make it become fun!

 

Shiro smiled, reaching Keith and Hunk. He petted the boy, making him open his eyes: he had bags under his eyes, and he seemed drained…was he tired?

 

He had practically passed out from almost two hours ago, scaring them all out of their mind. Coran said it was from stress. He had tried to remember, he had almost touched his memories, he had almost tasted the sensation they radiated and then? Then everything overwhelmed him, crushing against him.  Hunk had never seen Lance so pale, and Shiro so scared.

 

Coran checked on him, mumbling something about it being a strange thing, unexpected. Just like most of his symptoms.

 

The took him in  the ‘infirmary’, to check him. He didn’t seem to have anything at all. Just stress.

 

Still Pidge and Coran claimed to not know about other side effects.

 

They had tried to wake him being noisy, moving him, praying him, but Keith had remained pale, motionless in Hunk’s embrace. Maybe they should have let him slept, but they needed to know if he was really okay. And then… then Coran had walked in with a strange orange leaf, that thing that smelled like putrid and rotten corpse, and he did the worst thing he could do with it. He had put it under Keith’s nose, who had immediately opened his eyes, tensing in Hunk’s arms. The yellow paladin had moved him away from Coran, with a disgusted look, trying to protect him, knowing the smell should have been awful.

 

“Welcome back, Keith” Coran had said before walking away, ignoring the way the boy was trembling.

 

“That’s an awful way to wake up”  Lance had commented.

 

And since that Keith had been terribly silent and still, slowly calming down. He still didn’t remember anything. He didn’t regain the colour of his cheeks and lips, and the black and deep bags under his eyes didn’t get any better. He was tired.

 

That’s why Shiro decided it was time to let him sleep, possibly not in his room :“Keith, let’s go to the bedroom”. Hunk released him, but not without the last caress. Shiro  took him by the shoulders, before helping him stand on his feet.

 

“Shiro, I don’t want him to be alone” Coran said “Someone should stay with him”.

 

He nodded, and took Keith’s hand in his, ready to take him to his room.

 

But Shiro wasn’t the best option. They all had discovered about his stress problems. He needed sleep as much as he needed to breath air.

 

He couldn’t guard Keith. They couldn’t give him more stress.

 

“ Shiro… not with you” Coran whispered. Shiro stopped suddenly, so did Keith.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“ Because he said it and he has moustaches” Pidge replied. Telling Shiro the truth wasn’t the best option “Who wants to watch him?”

 

“Me!” Hunk exclaimed excited. Lance looked at the ground, his hands in his pockets, clearly embarrassed. Allura wasn’t an option either: she didn’t know anything about humans. When Hunk first puked she thought it was a way for humans to show happiness. She wouldn’t recognize the signs “Really, guys?”

 

“What?” Pidge asked

 

“He’s cute! Come on! When do we have the chance to see him like this?” He got up and took Keith from Shiro, smiling wide “Who is a good boy? Keith? Who is?”

 

Keith blocked, looking at Shiro in a unreadable way.

 

“You are” He cupped his face with his hands, squishing his cheeks.

 

“He’s not a kid, Hunk” Shiro said “You are terrifying him”

  
“He’s happy! Aren’t you Keith? Come on!” He tried to drag him to the door, but he didn’t move. He seemed heavier “Come on, Keith!”

 

He pushed him, trying to make him move, putting all his strength in that movement, but he didn’t take a step. He didn’t move a millimetre.

 

Pidge and Coran looked confused at each other. He should have been relaxed, totally defenceless against them and anyone. He should have been like a breathing and moving doll. He wasn’t.

 

Why?

Hunk stopped, panting, exhausted.

 

“Man, come on! What’s the problem!” Hunk tried caressing and petting, praying. Nothing happened. Keith didn’t want to be with Hunk “Keith, come on! You grumpy!”

 

But he wasn’t grumpy. He wasn’t sad or angered. He was… normal.

 

He just didn’t move.

 

Shiro sighed: he took Keith’s hand and prepared himself to drag him, but when he started to pull, Keith just walked with him, not  resisting.

 

Was he playing favourites? For Hunk, yes. And it broke his heart. He retrieved, looking at him with silent rage, as he did when they met Rolo.

 

“He’s coming with me tonight” Shiro announced, then proceeded to lead Keith to his room, leaving just worry and regret behind.

 

“Ok, Keith, we are going to sleep in my room” he said as they arrived in front of his door. Why was he so quiet?! He had always been quiet, but… THAT quiet?! No!

 

And in that silence all he could think and hear was ‘you have lost him’.

 

Keith looked at him in a strange way, as if he was expecting something, but also … nothing. Those purple eyes were glassy, as if something was preventing them from actually recognizing the world.

 

He sighed, stopping himself. Keith didn’t know him, he didn’t remember that night, he didn’t remember the nights that came before.

 

He needed to feel him near, but he couldn’t. He scared him! He could… he could…

 

He put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it, as he did before that horrible night.

 

“I’m sorry, Keith. I wish I could show you how much I am”

 

Keith’s lips parted, his eyes shined, that purple impregnated with the light of millions of stars. He took him by both shoulders, trembling, telling himself to stop gripping so hard, because he was sure he was scaring him.

 

“You’re hurting” he said.

 

Shiro didn’t expect him to say anything at all. He expected him running away, screaming or punching him or… anything else.

 

He felt his hand on his cheek. Was this normal? Keith never started contact. It had to be a drug effect, it had to be “Keith?”

 

“I have to make it better. Let me?” He asked tilting his head. What was he talking about? Why did he seem to be following an order? A command? Why was he moving like a machine? A robot.

 

“No, you must sleep. Let’s go” he said. Keith nodded, and followed him without interrupting him again.

 

Shiro couldn’t stop thinking about his glassy eyes and his soft voice. Was it another effect of the drug? Should he tell the others? Yes. If they wanted to fix him they had to know every strange behaviour.

 

Without noticing, they arrived in front of his bedroom’s door. He had almost missed it.

 

“Here we are. I showed it to you before, remember?” He didn’t answer. Again, that tense silence that tortured him returned. What if he  felt sick again?

 

 They heard running.

 

Shiro turned to see Lance rushing towards them, panting. What was happening?

 

He stopped right in front of them, panting.

 

“He’s staying with me…” he said “You need your sleep and since we don’t know…” he needed to take a deep breath, before continuing “ … we don’t know if remembering really hurts him and you…”

 

Shiro understood. He was the closest to Keith there. They shared almost everything, so it was logic.

 

He nodded.

 

“You’ll go with Lance, okay?” He said to him.

 

Lance smiled when Keith didn’t show any resistance to him, when he took his hand to bring him in his own room.  Better not telling Hunk. He was already ‘sad-cooking’.

 

Shiro followed them, staying on the threshold of the door, while Lance made the red paladin sit on the bed.

 

“You know, you better start remembering”

 

“Remember what?” He asked

 

“Remember us, Earth…stuff”

 

“Earth?”

 

“You don’t remember Earth?”

 

“What is it?”

  
“You come from there!” He exclaimed smiling. How could he not remember it?! Amnesia would never erase the memories of an entire planet, right? But he had to play it cool “you doofus”

  
“I… can’t come from anywhere” he said. That confused them.

 

“Why?”

 

“ Hybrids don’t belong anywhere”


	6. I want to kiss you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have a skin party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long! I had school and a lot of homeworks! Hope this chapter satisfies your waiting!

He didn’t remember the Lounge room! Lance got really offended by that, and grabbed him, showing him all of the best spots on the altean sofa, the hottest and the coldest in the room, the best ways to sit and relax (Why Shiro asked himself how Lance had had all of that time to figure all these stuff out)

 

“Dude, listen to me and follow my orders. Okay?”

 

Keith looked at him determined. Lance smiled. He gestured the sofa, telling him to sit in the middle of it.

 

The red paladin did, slowly, putting a hand on the soft fabric of the sofa, before sitting.

 

“Ok, now… lay down, slowly, while you close your eyes” The boy did so, lifting his legs as if he was stretching them, flexing his back, while he closed and opened his purple eyes, which shined.

 

Lance looked at him confused, feeling the heat of his cheek raise. He coughed nervously, regaining himself “Ok, hum… Breath in and out, slowly”

 

He executed the orders, still looking gracious and elegant. When had Keith’s movements gotten so graceful and lovely?

 

You couldn’t hear his steps, his posture was always perfect, while he used his arms and hands to make every gesture look harmonious and gentle… enchanting whoever was watching.

 

And his eyes? His eyelashes seemed the wings of a raven, long and soft, the light imperilled in them, clashing with their black, before springing away.  His eyes were something from another reality. The light got absorbed by them, becoming the thousands of stars which gleamed in that violet sky.

 

They seemed to have the gravitational force of the biggest black hole in space. You knew you were risking to get captured and vanish if you looked at them, but… you knew it was worth it.

 

The previous days he had been ‘cute’ and ‘petty’, but now… it was a different level: it seemed that Keith _was_ trying to attract them on purpose, without seeming a wore: he smiled softly at them, and listened to whatever they had to say. Hunk had gotten over his sad mood as soon as Keith had asked with his soft and small voice about the food. He had engulfed him in a hug, Keith had leaned into him, smiling at the yellow paladin while he petted his head. He seemed a kitten!

 

Hunk loved this version of Keith.

 

However, Shiro thought there was something strange about it, because… never Keith would have accepted THAT kind of touching. He had already talked about it to Pidge, she was already trying to make some hypothesis, using Coran’s knowledge.

 

And now… in Lance’s eyes, Keith, lying on that white sofa, with his beautiful eyes closed, with his rosy lips slightly parted, his breath calm, his pearly face crowned by those black locks... so peaceful , so tender, so sweet, looked like one of the princess his grandmother narrated.  He couldn’t _not_ ask himself how kissing him would have been.

 

He felt his cheeks burn at the thought, and while a storm perturbed even the most remote corners in his mind, Keith laid there, serene.

 

He had the time to play with his fingers, to beat his bottom lip, to smile, to mimic desperation, to embarrass himself with himself further, and to remember himself he was on duty. He was there for Shiro.

 

He couldn’t let some stupid thoughts to take him down.

 

“Hey, Keith” He already had something in mind. He had always dreamed doing this “Let’s take care of your skin”.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

He lead Keith in the bathroom:                 the boy looked at him in quiet curiosity, not questioning him. He had to admit the red paladin had become really quiet, and that silence was precious and horrible at the same time: he could talk about whatever he wanted with him, but … he almost missed his short but full of meaning come backs (even if the meaning wasn’t always nice).

 

However, when they entered the room was so clean it was almost shining: the walls were coated by tiles of different colour, following a horizontal order: up there was a strip of indigo which separated the white plaster of the walls and ceiling. The middle strips were a silver grey, and below, another strip of indigo, that separated the colours from the silver grey of the marmoreal floor.

 

There were two elliptical mirrors studded in the wall (long and strict) that was human sized: they were at the side of a bathtub that emerged from the wall. It was really technologic: it could become a shower clicking a button: from the board would erupt a bluish glass, that would replace the old curtains and from that glass, would come something similar to water, that cleaned every part of you. It had also a really good smell, that changed every day (going from rose to coconut).

 

From the opposite wall, at the hips size, emerged a seashell sink (enormous). Near it, attached to the wall there was a glass with a strange metal tooth-brush that sprayed water and a strange solution that cleaned teeth and tasted better than Coran’s goo (it was really sweet and fresh).

 

And then… there was HIM. The one that would always be there for you, mostly on your bad times, accepting whatever you gave him: the toilet.

 

At least, it seemed to be a toilet, because they were pretty confused when they first looked at it: It was a strict cabin, where you would enter. Inside, in a solemn pose, there was an enormous marmoreal oyster, closed. From inside you could see the outside, but not vice versa.

 

That was… problematic someway. The embarrassment reached the stars.

 

However, returning to the oyster toilet: the first time they couldn’t find a way to open it, and they were all too embarrassed to ask. Keith figured it out: you had to touch the top of it. It would slowly open, showing a not enough big hole  in the middle, instead of the pearl.

 

First reaction? All the same: What the fucking fuck?

 

How did Coran and Allura… ? What the hell?!

 

They found a way to adapt it, without telling the alteans, thanks to Hunk’s genius. He had saved them all, really.

 

Another strange thing, was that little sink, which seemed baby sized near the … toilet cabinet. This time Pidge had figured it out: it was a bidet. She was the only one to know what it was: no, it wasn’t a baby sink, or a sink for short people (she had snapped at Lance). It was a sink where you could wash your butt and genitals after… dirty stuff.

 

Allura confirmed quite some time later, puzzled by their confusion. All of their cheeks red.

 

In the end, Lance found a button that opened a big space full of shelves. There he put all his creams and make up.

 

So, he made him sit on the edge of the altean version of a bathtub, while he took whatever he needed.

 

He already had in mind what to do with Keith’s skin: it was pale but soft. His pores strangely weren’t that ruined, but he still had to work on it.

 

“So, we have to wash your face with hot water, then I will put this on you, then we chatter waiting two minutes, then we wash it and put that one, then…” he started explaining all of it to Keith, and he really seemed curious about it.  And Lance continued rambling about all the creams, explaining why they were putting it on, where they came from and what they did to the skin. He tied Keith’s hair with a clip.

 

He stopped a moment to look at him: Keith looked like a lost puppy like that, his eyes shining. Lance felt his own heart run fast, while his face flared up.

 

He shook his head and started explaining again, while actually using his products.

 

He put on Keith a strange blue cream, covering his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his chin, and circling his lips. He put another kind of cream under his eyes, and a strange lip stick on his lips.

 

He had started talking about famous people’s skin. How had he gotten there?

 

“Now, wait until I say it” he ordered. Keith still looked at him silently. Lance started putting orange cream on himself, looking at his reflex in that mirror.

 

“So, tell me!” He said, smiling “What do you want to do later?”

 

He didn’t really wait for an answer , but here it was: “ _I want to kiss you_ ”

 

Lance widened his eyes, while his lungs gave up on breathing and his hands let go of cream container. He had imagined it, he had imagined it “What? Repeat that, please…?”

 

“I want to kiss you” he said innocently.

 

Lance’s skin became white. He was sure he had lost twenty years of life with that phrase.

 

He let go of everything, and run to where he was sitting. He dropped on his knees, and took Keith face by the cheeks covered in blue cream.

 

“Keith, answer me, seriously” he said. Keith expression was stone. He nodded “Are you joking?”

  
“No”

 

“Do you like me that way or do you think it’s the drug?”

 

“I want to do it. By the way, isn’t it why I’m here?”

 

“What?!” He exclaimed horrified “What makes you think that?”

 

“Hybrids are useful just to get laid” He seemed like a robot while he said that.

 

“Okay, we’ll talk about kissing after you return yourself”

 

Keith looked so sad. His eyes dared to spill tears, his voice wasn’t anymore that composed. He put his hands on his knees, while he trembled. Lance felt so sorry, his own heart breaking, especially when he looked up with a teary smile  “ May I ask what did I do wrong?”

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

 

“ _Am I unwanted here_ ?” He asked.

 

“ You’re wanted but… not for our benefits, okay? We are friends, Keith, you might not remember, because that alien brain-washed you, but we are friends” He smiled at him, while the red paladin looked at him not so convinced. He really hoped Keith would remember soon. He wanted to strangle that yellow alien. He stood up, to take the cream container. He sat next to him and gave it to him “Could you please put it on my face?”

 

The boy nodded, and did as he was asked without saying anything else.

 

Keith could see the pink fog becoming hard, circling his body, gripping till it hurt. He could hear a voice, he didn’t know, but that was familiar, say “You failed”.

____________________________________________________________________________________

 After washing  away the cream, they went to eat since launch was ready.

 

Hunk had prepared something that looked a lot like spaghetti with tomato sauce, with a pinch of grated something, but all together it tasted like strawberry and hazelnut ice-cream.

He gave a maxi portion to Keith, earning a common ‘come on!’. Yes, drugged Keith had become Hunk’s favourite, and he was willing to protect him from the scariest monster, but for now… he could just give him all the food he could cook.

But Keith didn’t seem really happy to be there, he didn’t seem hungry, nay, he seemed upset, and kept playing with the food in his plate.

“Try it, it’s really good” Hunk said.

He did as Hunk wished, and smiled softly at the tanned boy, stealing his kind heart, but soon, Keith stopped eating it.

“Keith, you aren’t hungry?” Shiro asked

“Not really…sorry” he whispered.

Lance looked at him confused. He didn’t want to tell the others what happened before to avoid to embarrass them both, but now, he understood it had to do with the drug. He was going to tell Pidge after launch.

“Do you want to hear some of our adventures?” Coran asked smiling. The boy didn’t answer, keeping his head low. He almost seemed sad.

That made all of them suspicious: they all turned to look at Lance expectantly.

The blue paladin figured it out after a few seconds: he looked behind him, but since there was nobody he understood they were mad at him.

“We just had skin party”

“What did you say to him?” Pidge asked

“Nothing bad! I swear!”  
“Lance!”

______________________________________

They accompanied Keith to  his own room. He said he needed to see it just one more time.

 

They didn’t know why, they were all worried about him.

 

He closed the door behind him all of them waiting outside.

 

Lance took the chance to explain what had happened it that bathroom, between the soft gasps of his teammates.

 

Shiro put a hand on his shoulder smiling reassuringly :” you are a good boy, Lance”

 

The blue paladin smiled too.

 

“But… how does a drug tell you what is your purpose and what you have to do?” Allura asked confused.

 

Pidge and Coran looked at each other, thinking, but it was Hunk that figured it out.

 

“The tentacle of that alien!” He exclaimed, and then they heard a thud from inside the room.

 

Shiro almost destroyed the door with his fist, before it opened, and sprinted inside so fucking fast: he found Keith on the ground, passed out, near him his blade, the metal dirt with blood.

 

Blood?

 

 ** _His wrists_**!


	7. The champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok, fans of VLD.  
> I got worse at english, don't know why.  
> However, since I'm italian and since I don't have netflix I'll have to wait three days or more to get to see the new season. My poor heart is hurting.  
> I saw in a spoiler Keith's mother.  
> I want to see my spicy boy being loved and hugged and loved again!  
> However: correct me if I write something wrong (I really need it), and help me imagine what should happen in the next chapter, because I figured out I'm having the writer and the drawer block. It sucks.

“Where is that shit?!” a voice barked, full of fury. It echoed through the hallways of the coloured palace of the Gelnokies. It made the columns tremble, the marmoreal floor crack.

 

The fear was like a shadow monster invading each room, capturing each being in that place, a shiver insinuating under their skin, shaking their bones vehemently. Everyone who had heard that wild snarl, was now hiding in the best way they could.

 

Shirogane’s eyes were mad, jumping from the ‘king’ to every single little corner of the palace; his mouth twisted in a bloody and murderous way; his hand was glowing purple, spritzing flash of lightning.

 

The king trembled, transforming itself in a green insectoid. He looked at the black paladin. If he had called his guards, he would have just killed all of them, and them him “Who?”

 

“The merchant of hybrids”

 

“Which form you last saw them?” He asked, his concubines were trembling, scared.

 

“Yellow. Tentacle” He spitted so much venom with those words “ It was the day of the party”

 

The king couldn’t really do anything: all of them shape-shifted, that was why their people weren’t really united. You didn’t know who was the culprit until they got killed: in fact, when they died, they took every form they had tried through their life, from the last to the first. What could he say, to escape his fury?

 

“He had a hybrid: the red paladin”

 

Where were the other paladins?

 

“I… I can’t help you. He escaped from the planet” He answered.

 

He saw his hands clench into fists, the lightning bolts growing stronger and stronger. The purple light became wider.

 

“Coordinates?”

  
“Unknown”

 

And then he couldn’t breathe, his legs didn’t touch anymore the ground, his head pounded.

 

He felt his lovers cry for him.

 

“Where “ he paused, breathing angrily “is” his chest rose and lowered slowly “ he?”

 

He was going to die. All of his wares, all of his precious riches…  he was going to die, and all his money wouldn’t save him, his concubines wouldn’t save him. Everything in his life had always being a craving of power and money, and in the end? Nobody would have missed him, they just wanted his money.

 

“Please” one of his lovers, Alcestis had stood up for him: “we really don’t know”

 

And then he could breathe. He was going to give her whatever she wanted. He was going to love her till the end. She had earned it.

 

“B…but we can give you a lot information” She continued “you said he had one of your friends”

 

The black paladin murderous look turned in one of fond commotion at the sight of that little and slim figure, covered in a white dress made of petals. She seemed really young.

 

“He doesn’t anymore, but he did something to him”

 

“He is a hybrid, right?”

 

Love. Yes. It would complete him more than every kind of wealth. It could make his life worth of being lived.

 

_____________________________________

Keith had survived his own knife. The pod had done a miracle: if he had been on Earth, he wouldn’t have.

 

All of them felt guilty for leaving him alone, but who would have thought that would have happened?

 

Lance, especially. He knew it was his fault. He had said no to him. If he had followed his own desire, Keith wouldn’t have ended in that pod.

 

Pidge felt guilty for not having figured it out, yet. It was obvious Keith was suffering for that stupid drug!

 

Hunk was ,again, sad cooking. But Lance was there, to help him through his awful day.

 

Allura regretted not telling them about the danger of being a hybrid. Regretted not telling Keith. But Coran was there for her, for everyone.

 

While Shiro felt rage. In the most raw form. It was rage. The one he had felt in that arena. Blood was rising in his head. He felt sick just thinking about all that RED. That alien was going to pay.

 

_______________________________________

“Do you have a sample of that drug?” Lance asked the little alien while they walked through the hallways towards the library. Her skin was coloured just like a leaf, some part were clearer, others darker. She was wrapped in a white dress, with no sleeves, her hips were circled by a golden bracelet. Her eyes shined pink, there was no pupil, but he knew she was scared; on her head there were three antennas, long and soft, that moved around capturing every sound. She didn’t have hair, and in that form, she seemed really young and defenceless.

 

“Yes. Everyone on this planet sells and buys hybrids” she whispered, her voice couldn’t get more acute, but she was really serious and resolute. She sure knew what she was doing . She was kind of cute and terrifying at the same time, just like Pidge.

 

 Shiro, behind them, was silent.

 

“So, it’s really popular”

 

“Why did you let your friend come here?” She asked. She stopped in front of a door made of glass, taking out a big silver key. There was no lock, where was she going to put it?

 

“He is part of Voltron. We have to go around together, you know?” Lance replied. Shiro moved behind them.

 

“You don’t consider him an object” The black paladin observed. She put the key on the floor, right in front of the door.

 

“He is not, just like _I_ am not”

 

______________________________________

Shiro had to find that stupid alien. He had to take it to Keith, to make that thing stop from messing with Keith’s brain. He just had to.

 

It was … that thing’s fault if Keith was now a puppet in their hands, If he had lost his memories, if he had almost succeeded in killing himself. 

 

And if Allura and Coran didn’t let him, he would go by himself with a pod or the Black Lion itself.

 

He let his eyes catch for the last time the image of the shadow of Keith. His body was trapped again behind that glass, frozen. They wouldn’t risk again, letting him out.

 

Lance had stayed with him, sitting on the cold ground of that room, comforting him with his presence, with his strange silence.

 

He had fallen asleep, while shivering, against Shiro’s shoulder.

 

Shiro had taken him to his room, enveloping him in the covers and blankets. Keith wasn’t really suffering: he was asleep, his mind lost somewhere, letting the pain fall on their shoulders, a burden they had to bear.

 

The team was suffering for him, especially Lance and him.

 

But Keith had suffered to get him back. He had fought, he had stayed in that shack for so long, alone. He thought about him sick, alone, trying to give a sense to his life, obsessing over him because he had no one else.

 

And now? A prejudice, a stupid alien had taken away from him all he had gained suffering.

 

He couldn’t stand it.

 

That’s why now he was reprogramming an escape pod, getting the right coordinates, typing furiously on those numbers that were all the same to him.

 

He heard coughing.

 

He turned around, spotting Lance, already in his armour, with the gun at his side, cold blue eyes fixed on him. Was he going to stop him? If he was there to do that, he was going to put him to sleep with violence.

 

He stood up, clenching his fists, ready to fight, but Lance spoke, in a determinate voice:

 

“I’m coming with you”

______________________________________________________________________

The little ‘leaf’ alien had taken a big book. It was ‘new’, clean, perfect. You could smell the inebriating perfume of its ink. It stood out between all those ancient and dusty volumes.

 

She was really serious, she didn’t seem a damsel in distress anymore: she was really intelligent and …somewhat dangerous.

 

“Why are you helping your king? You don’t seem to love him that much” Lance asked looking around embarrassed. Shiro was distracting himself with the titles of the books. Lance knew he couldn’t trust his patience right now, he had to be careful with stopping him and letting him do.

 

Shiro was his hero, but right now, emotions were blinding him.

 

“The situation you created will result in me governing through his stupidity, and finally putting together this country. And I will need your help”  
Shiro was not going to meet her, it was certain. They could be too dangerous together. They could conquer the Universe just like Zarkon and dominate it eternally. Lance knew they were capable of doing so.

 

He didn’t want to become their counsellor while Hunk became their favourite chef!

 

“So, that was all an act?”

 

“Yes”

 

“You scare me a bit”

  
“You’re a paladin, you should defend the universe” she said. She was haughty, her gentle form just gave her elegance “And you’re scared of me?”

 

“I’m scared of your intelligence”

 

She nodded.

 

“Have you found anything?”

 

“Yes” She put the book on a squared table. The frame was metallic, while the top was made of glass. It lighted on, and suddenly there were letters and symbols on it.

 

She typed something and suddenly, from the table erupted a big paper shit. She gave it to Shiro, knowing she had to calm him down in order to survive.

 

“What is it?”

 

“All we know about that drug. Give it to your princess, she’ll know what to do”

 

 Shiro looked at it confused “How do we know you’re not tricking us?”

 

“If it is not what you think, then you will have my head”

 

Lance gulped. There was a moment of silence. Lance wouldn’t be fast and strong enough to stop him. He hoped he wouldn’t kill her.

 

He saw him tense.

 

His heart stopped for a moment.

 

“We have a deal”

 

And Lance could breathe again.                                          

 

_________________________________

When they returned to the castle they expected Allura and Coran there to yell at them. But there were also Hunk, and Pidge. All of them  looked pissed, yet hopeful.

 

And then, they spotted Keith. Was he awake?! What was he doing out of the pod?

 

He was hiding behind Hunk, trying to make himself look smaller, trying to disappear, his eyes fixed on the ground, his cheeks red. He seemed embarrassed somehow, like a guilty kid. His bangs covered most of his face.

 

Lance thought he was cute. But he knew that wasn’t their Keith. They had to bring him back.

 

“Where were you?!” Allura  asked angrily. She was going to yell at them until their hair became all white. But Shiro didn’t care enough about her, he needed to help his friend. Keith needed him.

 

“All their knowledge about that drug. We couldn’t find the alien” Lance explained. He lifted his head, trying to take a good look of Keith. He gave Allura the paper shift , without even looking at her. He felt guilty. His hands were dirty with his blood. He had driven Keith towards suicide. He should have been more careful.

 

“Keith…?” He called him. The boy looked at him, curious, yet pale and confused.

 

Pidge stepped in front of the red paladin, protectively.

 

Allura sighed, her arms crossed.

 

 The tension didn’t fade until Coran stepped in.

 

“We need to talk”

 

___________________________________________________________________________

Pidge sat on the sofa, seated between Hunk and Keith. She was typing something on the keyword of their computer. While Hunk’s eyes were glued to the screen, Keith’s were looking at the ground, his mouth sealed. He seemed so small and uncomfortable there. He seemed cute.

 

They were analysing the paper shit, which turned out to be a binary-code made of alien numbers. It was full of information about effects of the drug on different aliens, about the molecules acting in their bodies. Obviously there was nothing about humans, but there was a lot about Galra hybrids, a lot about their commerce.

 

“What did you find about it?” Lance asked “I mean, while we were out”

 

“You mean, while you put us all at risk, flying on that planet?” Allura asked, furious.

 

“Yes” Shiro answered with murder in his eyes. He had never fought with Allura like this…

 

“Oh, well, that drug isn’t the responsible for Keith’s display of actions” Coran explained “you said that alien put a tentacle in his throat”

 

Lance nodded

 

“It released a strong hormone that is now affecting his body and his mind, making him act as if his only purpose for life is to live for your wishes”

 

“We already had figured that out” Shiro said harshly.

 

“Oh, yes, but we figured that whatever you ask him to do, he’ll do”

  
“I didn’t ask him to kill himself” Lance replied, confused.

 

“No, but you said we didn’t need his services” Pidge explained. Her eye-glasses shined, dangerously “that means for him: we finished with you, we don’t want you around anymore’ “

 

Lance saw Keith tense at those words. He lowered his head. His fists clenched.

 

“Is he fighting it?” Shiro asked. They all knew he was hurting for Keith. They could see it from the black bags under his eyes, from his pale skin, from his outbursts. But now there was hope in his eyes. They couldn’t ruin it.

 

“His hesitation tells us he is” Coran explained smiling, proud of his number four “ He asked us questions, he tried to remember through his knife, even if the command seems to be ‘don’t remember’! Which is a good sign!”

 

“But he can’t” Pidge continued “it’s too strong for him. The drug makes him suffer when he rebels to the orders”

 

“So, what do we do?” Shiro asked

 

“We have to try to stimulate his free will” Hunk said smiling “like when I forced him to pick the cake he wanted!”. But he hadn’t chosen that time, but hadn’t it happened too soon?

 

“Will he be okay?” Shiro asked.

Silence.

 

They didn’t know. They couldn’t tell. Would they need to find a new paladin for the red lion?

 

“We’ll give him an antidote, or something, to help him fight the chemicals, but he will have to fight it on his own” Pidge whispered. She turned to look at the boy next to him. Keith looked at her curiously, his purple eyes shined innocently.

 

They sighed. Why did it have to happen to him? Why was the universe so mad at Keith?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I took so long, but it was difficult to write between ancient greek and latin, philosophy and PHYSICS (which I hate because I don't understand really well). Also, today I had a test where I had to traslate a latin text (from Sallustio, the war against Giugurta) and tomorrow I'll have a greek test to translate (Nooooo) and biology interrogation aaaaand interrogation on greek literature, and also an interrogation on Spinoza and Cartesio.  
> Also, next week I'm going to start that stupid thing we call alternation school-work, the latest result of our government's corruption. Have fun reading this!

The first thing they did, was make him try a lot of different kind of foods. Hunk was so happy to cook for him, even if Keith just smiled at him contently, so soft and cute, but didn’t tell him if the food was bad or good.

So, he made all the others join, and soon, Hunk figured out he had been using too much spicy-alien-something. Lance’s mouth was going on fire. He soon drunk Kaltnecker’s milk, all in one sip.

Hunk looked at him mortified, then turned to look at Keith, whose cheeks were red, but his violet eyes were curious and innocent, fixed on him. Hunk sighed: how were they supposed to know when he was hurting when he couldn’t tell?

“Do you want some milk?” Pidge asked smiling. The boy looked at her confused, frowning. The girl smiled, offering him a glass full of it, waiting for him to answer. Soon Keith turned to Hunk, asking for help.

“Come on, Keith, it’s not difficult” He said smiling nicely.

The boy turned to Pidge.

“Damn, your mouth should be going on fire…” whispered Lance, with his cheek resting against the surface of the table. It was really cold, and he was really bored.

He heard a chair move, then footsteps.

“Keith? Where are you going, buddy?” Hunk asked. Lance looked up, and they needed a bit to figure out the problem: Lance threw the chair away, running the fastest he could, then jumped on him, tackling the poor red paladin to the ground, scared to death. On him ended firstly Hunk, then Pidge, all of them squishing Keith. The boy tried to escape them, until Lance spoke.

“No! Your mouth is fine this way, don’t do anything!” The boy went dangerously slack under them, so they stood up, letting him free. Lance took him in an embrace, trying to calm his own panting “Boy…”

“This is going to be difficult” Pidge commented.

There was a moment of quiet. Just a moment…

“Is he breathing?!” Hunk asked.

Lance looked down, noticing the boy’s lips becoming bluish “NO! WHAT DO WE DO!?!”

“I don’t know!” Hunk yelled in panic.

Pidge was looking at them with a serious and exasperated expression, while Lance took Keith’s shoulders and shook him with strength

“BREATHE!” The two yelled. And Keith just did.

The two slumped to the ground, sighing, Keith squished between them.

“This is going to be really difficult” she muttered “Keith, come with me with the milk”

He nodded, getting up. Was he happy? He didn’t look this happy with them! The boy took a glass of milk, while Pidge grabbed her own laptop.

“Drink it, come on” she ordered. Finally he did, then followed her through the door, SMILING.

“That little shit…” Lance whispered

“Which shorty?” Hunk asked

“…Both”

 

____________________________________________________

Pidge made him pick a videogame. It was (almost) his choice.

She showed him all of them (she had gathered just five video games, but it didn't matter), and explained all the pros and cons of each one, saying he could choose one of them so they could play together. Eventually Lance joined, saying Hunk was cleaning the kitchen (and not crying and trying to calm himself from the scare, or avoiding Keith to not hurt him unintentionally ).

Keith and Pidge sat on the bed, while Lance looked at the games, trying to walk in the girl's room which was full of different stuff, and then...he said THE phrase:

"Animatronics in war is the best!"

"WHAT! Absolutely not!" She yelled

"Absolutely yes!"

"You just like it because you are good at shooting!"

"It's the best!"

"No! Shooting blogbajorws is better!"

"How can you even like it! We don't understand half of the language, and when you win there's that blue pig with human legs and feet that sings horribly!"

"But it's better than just making people's heads explode!"

They stopped for a moment, to breathe. Their yells had made the room tremble. Then, they noticed Keith looking curiously at Coran's trush-doll.

They had forgotten he was even there... they looked at each other, with a malicious grin.

"Keith, which is the best --"

"Is that Shiro?" The boy asked, almost to himself. They looked at each other. He got off the bed and with agility reached the trash dolls.

"Oh, yes. But the most goodlooking is mine" Lance said, smiling.

"It's Hunk" Keith said crouching down, to look at it better. Lance stared at him confused.

"Why do you think so?" Pidge asked

"He's the only one who always smiles" he whispered. Lance put a hand on his shoulder. Keith stood up. In that moment Lance saw that little sparkle of fierce in Keith's eyes, but they quickly became glassy again. He smiled.

"Wait until I tell Hunk!" Pidge exclaimed. She rushed out of the room, running all happy. They all knew the yellow paladin's was trying to cope with unmotivated guilt at the moment, that would have helped him.

Lance smiled evilly:

"If Pidge asks you, you prefer Animatronics in war"

__________________________________________________  
Pidge, Hunk, Lance and Keith found themselves preparing to play videogames in Lance's room. The two were still arguing about which game they had to play, and while Hunk preferred to not answer, Keith had to: "I prefer Animatronics"

Pidge's mouth fell open. She tourned to look at Lance, angrily "you cheated! You told him to say it!"

"Maybe yes, maybe no" Lance said.

"Keith, tell Lance you prefer 'shooting blogbajorws'!" She yelled

"I prefer 'shooting--"

"No, say you prefer Animatronics!"

"Shooting!"

"Animatronics!"

Keith looked between them, confused, his cheeks red with embarassment. He embraced himself, trembling, stepping back.

"Guys!" Hunk screamed "Stop. Keith, don't listen to them, okay?"

The boy nodded, his violet eyes shined cutely, illuminated by the screen of the little play-station. Hunk smiled "Do you want to play this one? It's similiar to Mario-Kart"

Keith didn't answer. It was too soon for it.

But Hunk was patient and made him sit on the floor and gave him one of the controller. Smiling, he sat next to him. Pidge and Lance looked to the ground embarassed, then sat between the two.

"The intent is to arrive first in this race, got it, buddy?" Hunk said.

He nodded.

It was soo good to see them play so happily together. None of them argued about the games anymore, it was Hunk to pick them, showing them to Keith, explaining each of them and expressevely asking if he 'wanted' to play them.

The boy never answered, but they would wait.

Keith's favourite seemed to be the space-ships race. He always smiled while playing at them and he even beat Hunk at it many times. Pidge and Lance observed Keith's moves astonished: he arrived in the colourful planet race, the most difficult of all, never making a mistake, avoiding all asteroids! He beat Hunk so easily and they couldn' t be more proud!

They proceeded, trying other games, picked by each one of them, forgetting about time.

They noticed Keith getting worse and worse at the games, so in the end they put again his favourite.

Keith lose all the races, making the most stupid mistakes they could imagine. It was the eleventh race when Lance noticed Keith's eyes closing, his head dropping.

He reopened his eyes after a moment, shaking his head, trying to stay awake.

"Keith come on! Are you telling me you're not losing on purpose?" Pidge asked. Lance tapped on Pidge's and Hunk's shoulders. They turned to look at him, confused.

"What?" When he pointed at Keith, the boy had just losed his battle with sleep. He immediately got up, taking the boy for the shoulders. Pidge removed the controllers from his hands, laughing silently.

"I don't want to move him too much" Hunk said "I don't want to wake him up"

"I don't think he is going to" Lance whispered

"We are already in your room, he's sleeping with you" Pidge decided

"What! No! He'll kill me!"

"If you order him, then yes" Hunk said. Lance groaned "I'm putting him on your bed, okay?"

"Fine" Lance grumbled.

He lifted Keith's form up, and gently placed him on the soft bed "You'll be just two guys chilling in a bed"

Lance looked at him with a murderous look.

"Five feet apart cause 'no homo' !" Pidge exclaimed, then run out of the room with Hunk as fast as they could.

"Goodnight!"

"Yeah, goodnight you too..." He looked at Keith, sleeping on his bed, tiredly. His black hair fell on his face, covering partly his closed eyes, while his lips were slightly parted cutely.

"You know what, buddy? I'm just going to shut down the play station and sleep" he turned off the monitors, then put on his own pijamas. His eyes always checked on Keith's form.

He didn't move when he slept, and seemed really relaxed. Also, he curled up, almost making his knees touch his chin, while his arms hugged the nearest pillow he had found.

"I'm going to jump my skin care, just because of you. You must be happy, no? Tomorrow I'll look all awful because of you, and you're not even listening" He sat on the bed, sighing. Didn't they even put on him a blanket? He groaned and got up, grabbing a strip of cover, and pulled. He took Keith legs and put them under the cover, then got himself in.

Looking at his pink lips he couldn't not mind how it would have felt kissing him...

"Goodnight, little spit of fire"


	9. Lion roaring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am really trying to find a way to help them out of the mess I put them in.  
> Poor Keith!  
> Lance is being a good boy, and in the end I think they will all learn a lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long wait, but the pc broke and I...kind of didn't have the money to buy a new one. Sorry :(

 

The next day Lance woke up hugging a pillow. It was so cool and soft against him…

 

Wait.

 

He opened his eyes, searching for Keith. The mullet man was there yesterday, he fell asleep there! Where was him?!

 

He got up and threw on his daily clothes as fast as he could, running outside his own room, in the hallways, yelling his name. Where the quiznack was that boy? He banged with his fists against Hunk’s and Pidge’s doors yelling that he couldn’t find Keith, and that he needed help! Couldn’t those sleepy heads understand and get up?!

 

“Geez, man, what’s wrong?” Hunk asked rubbing his eyes.

 

“He wasn’t there! I woke up and he wasn’t there! Hunk, do you understand?!” He yelled in his face, holding onto his shirt, while climbing on him, too worried to care about being rude.

 

“No” he replied “wait… by ‘he’ don’t you mean Keith?” Hunk blinked twice, trying to grab onto the situation.

 

“Yes, him!”

 

“Are you sure? Black hair, high as much as you?”

 

“I’m taller, and yes, that Keith! The little shit Keith! We have to find him!”

 

There was a moment of complete silence, Lance’s scared eyes locked with Hunk’s, still half asleep. Then, while another door shifted open…

 

“Holy quiznack! You lost Keith!” Hunk screamed suddenly awake “WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!”

 

“He’s in the hangar, I checked on the control panel” Pidge said. They both jumped scared, Hunk behind Lance “stop yelling you two, I just have messy hair”

  
“No, you have a nest on your head”

 

“Shut up, go find the rival you lost!”

 

Lance jumped again, in awareness, then run through the castle’s hallways “KEEEEEITH! I’m coming!”

 

Hunk grabbed Pidge’s hand, yelling too “We lost a galra with no memories in the altean castle”

 

“He’s Keith!”

 

“He’s an half galra with no memories in an altean castle, near the lions!”

 

“If you say it like that it will always seem dangerous!”

 

When they arrived they found Keith sitting in front of the Red lion, his legs crossed, his purple eyes looking curiously at her. Lance got to his knees and grabbed him by his shoulders, hugging him closely, almost crying from relief “Keith, my buddy, my colleague, my pal, my friend… why the fuck are you here?”

 

“She asked me to come…” he said softly, his eyes sparkling in that bluish light “Did you need me?”

 

“No, I was just worried about you” He said, already blushing embarrassed “did you remember something?”

 

“I pilot that lion” he whispered “against Galras”

 

“Not galras… just everyone who menaces the universe’s peace” Pidge said. He seemed in so much need of comfort, like a little lost kitten. 

“who appear to be right now the galras” Hunk continued earning dead glares “but we had already told you”

“I studied at the Galaxy Garrison on Earth…”

“Yes!” Lance smiled “do you remember something?” He asked “someone….?”

Keith didn’t look at him “A kid, with brown hair… really dumb… James maybe?”

“Lance…?” Pidge suggested

Their own sharpshooter was close to pass out from embarrassment, his cheeks red.

 

“Who?”

 

“Me, I’m Lance!” He put his hands on Keith’s face, making him turn around and look at him “THE NAME’S LANCE! FOR QUIZNACK’S SAKE! I was at the galaxy garrison!”

 

“… You don’t look like him” he whispered, his eyes avoided the blue paladin’s, blinking fast, as if the light was bothering those beautiful purple eyes.

 

Lance looked at him puzzled “he was like… evil dumb, you are good dumb…”

 

He closed his eyes and fell on Lance, passed out. While the other two called for him to wake up, worried sick, Lance held him tight, still thinking about what that could mean.

 

“The lion helped him remember, but it cost him great fatigue” Coran said, looking at the boy on the bed.

 

“Then what do we do?” Shiro asked, while caressing Keith’s forehead, worried. He was so pale... he didn't look this sick since that horrible fever. He almost failed the simulator that time, and Inverson yelled at him all day, while that other boy, that little shit...Joseph? Jack? James? whatever was called took on him with those venomous jokes “I mean, if it can be dangerous for him at this point…”

  
“Don’t worry” Coran exclaimed, smiling “he just found a part of his memories rich of pain, if you go around that—“

  
“Keith has a lot of those” Shiro said “what do we do?”

 

Coran sighed.

 

Lance tried “… he could try to remember things that didn’t traumatize him…?”

 

“It will be too slow” Allura said “we need him to pilot the red lion as soon as he can”

 

“Yes but… what else can we do?” Hunk asked

 

There was a moment of silence, everyone thinking with their arms crossed, while Keith rested in Shiro’s bed, under those warm covers.

 

“We can shock him” Pidge said

 

“WHAT?!” They all yelled in unison, then they turned towards Keith, who (thank God) was still sleeping. They all sighed relieved.

 

“I mean…we could use one of his pained memories to shake him and make him remember everything else” Pidge continued, moving her little hands.

 

“Yes that would work!” Coran smiled, brushing his own big moustaches.

 

“Are you insane? We can’t traumatize him!” Lance protested, throwing his hands in the air. Shiro had just said Keith had a lot of bad memories, why bring them back?!

 

“Lance is right, he has too much to carry on his own, I don’t want him to …” Shiro trailed off, looking at Keith with care. He needed that boy back, he couldn't make it without him “but at the same time I don’t want to see him like this”

 

“Are you all gone mad?” Lance insisted, huffing, his face red with rage. Couldn't they understand what that meant? Even Shiro was with them! “ Hunk, please, help me!”

 

“Lance, Keith has turned out strong like he is because of those memories, it could help him fight against that drug” Hunk said, looking at the ground “and we need Voltron!”

 

“You all want to torture him just because you need Voltron?” Lance whispered, looking at the ground “do it, but without me”

 

He got up and left the room.


	10. Don't know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they are just planning on how to solve the situation. I felt offended when they called Lance dumb, I know he isn't. Think about it, do we even understand what Pidge, Hunk and Coran say? They start like...to rap really fast about what they are going to do. Next chapter coming!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys, sorry for being late. I just had to adjust the writing and everything, even if it's just mostly dialogues.   
> I'm a drawer not a writer, so... help me get better at writing.  
> Thank you for staying with me!

“The lion helped him remember, but it cost him great fatigue” Coran said, looking at the boy on the bed.

 

“Then what do we do?” Shiro asked, while caressing Keith’s forehead, worried “I mean, if it can be dangerous for him at this point…”  


“Don’t worry” Coran exclaimed, smiling “he just found a part of his memories rich of pain, if you go around that—“

  
“Keith has a lot of those” Shiro said “what do we do?”

 

Coran sighed.

 

Lance tried “I… he could try to remember things that didn’t traumatize him…?”

 

“It will be too slow” Allura said “we need him to pilot the red lion as soon as he can”

 

“Yes but… what else can we do?” Hunk asked.

 

 

There was a moment of silence, everyone thinking with their arms crossed, while Keith rested in Shiro’s bed, under those warm covers.

 

“We can shock him” Pidge said

 

“WHAT?!” They all yelled in unison, then they turned towards Keith, who (thank God) was still sleeping. They all sighed relieved.

 

“I mean…we could use one of his pained memories to shake him and make him remember everything else” Pidge continued

 

“Yes that would work!” Coran smiled

 

“Are you insane? We can’t traumatize him!” Lance protested

 

“Lance is right, he has too much to carry on his own, I don’t want him to …” Shiro trailed off, looking at Keith with care “but at the same time I don’t want to see him like this”

 

“Are you all gone mad?” Lance insisted, huffing, his face red with rage “ Hunk, please, help me!”

 

“Lance, Keith has turned out strong like he is because of those memories, it could help him fight against that drug” Hunk said, looking at the ground “and we need Voltron!”

 

“You all want to torture him?” Lance whispered, looking at the ground “do it, but without me”

 

He got up and left the room.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hunk had seen Lance that angry just a few times and he knew it was not good news. If he had to admit it, they all had been thinking about how to bring Keith back, not about the effect it would have on him, but Hunk was sure, just as Shiro was, Keith could bear it, also because they would all be there for him. He didn’t feel sorry for his decision, they needed Voltron. They couldn’t just run from Galras, you can’t win a war like that.

 

 Coran continued “we could storage all his memories and then send them back to Keith, to show them to him”

 

“No” Shiro stopped him “he would see them as an outsider and don’t feel them as his own”

 

He petted Keith’s head. He had never noticed how peaceful he looked while sleeping.

 

“Couldn’t we send him just a memory? Just one?” They all turned to look at Coran.

 

“No, I don’t think so” He said

  
“There has to be another way” Hunk said. He finally understood what his best friend meant “then that would make Lance right. We don’t have to torture him”

 

“No, we don’t want—“

 

Hunk cut Shiro short “Sorry Shiro, but you said yourself he has a lot of horrible memories, making him see all of them in once would just hurt him. A person can stand just…so much pain; he could go in shock or just get worse”

 

There was a horrible silence. Everyone was asking themselves if it was right towards Keith, Pidge seemed the most troubled, but before she could reply Allura snapped.

 

Her cheeks were red and her hands closed in punches “I know he is our friend, but we have a war to win. If we do not find a way to bring Keith back within two days we will have to look for another paladin, and close him in a pod until we will know what to do”

 

“You claim to know Keith is our friend” Pidge whispered “But I think you do not!” She yelled. Her eyes had the same flame the red paladin had when he fought “Then why, tell me, should we put him in a pod for and forget about him?”

 

Allura did a step back, scared by her “There are more people out there who need Voltron!”  


“No, YOU need Voltron to fight your father’s war! We are not servants of yours!”

 

“PIDGE!” Shiro exclaimed “Enough!”

 

Allura felt tears sting in her eyes. She looked down, finding the pale and limp form of Keith. Memories of that horrible party came to her mind: his lips slightly parted, almost white, his breath so slow and faint… It was not Keith’s fault, he did not even know hybrids were used in that kind of way: mistreated and enslaved. She should have warned him “I have to protect you all. If we get attacked and captured we will not be able to help him. I will give you three days to find a way to bring him back”

 

“But Princess…” Coran trailed off, frowning.

 

“No less, no more. We cannot have him moving around the castle like that”

 

“Even if that could make him remember?” Shiro asked

 

“We can be attacked any second, and I don’t want to see him in any more danger. He would not be able to fight back and if asked he would spill everything to the enemy. We can’t risk”

 

Hunk and Shiro had to keep Pidge still before she went after Allura and decided to rip her head off. She was trembling with fury.

 

“Coran…? What are our options?” Shiro asked. That seemed to calm Pidge down.

 

“I’m going to get Lance” Hunk said. He looked one last time Keith, sleeping on the infirmary bed. He didn’t like that sight.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Lance? It’s me, your best buddy. Cooking yields focus, you know…?”

The door opened, Lance behind it. He kept his eyes down, focusing on the cold floor, his shoulder slumped, one against the door “have you… already done it?”

“What?”

“The…memory thing”

“No, actually…” Hunk sighed “before everything, you need this”. He hugged the boy in front of him. Lance was clearly in pain, he could not stand that. Lance was the king of drama, but not for…real pain. He never showed it, he always tried to put it aside in favor of the biggest problems. It wasn’t right, but it wasn’t even completely wrong: he respected the fact they all had their inner trouble, but sometimes, Hunk wished, he would come to him to yell, to cry, to say everything he thought out loud “ Pidge is a savage”

“Why? What happened?”

“She yelled at Allura and offended her bringing up her father”

“She wouldn’t!” They looked at each other deadpanned “yes, she would. She is a gremlin after all”

They started walking towards the infirmary, Lance’s hands in his pockets.

“But why?”

“Allura said we have a war to fight and that she couldn’t wait for Keith, even if he is our friend. Three days, and she will give Coran the order to put him in cryo-sleep, until we cure him”

“Why in cryo-sleep? He will not certainly remember staying frozen”

“She said we could get attacked every second and she doesn’t want him in danger” Hunk explained “You know, if I didn’t know her I would say she meant she doesn’t want to have to go after him”

“But it’s also her responsibility! If Keith had known about what other aliens do with hybrids, he would have been more careful and we would have protected him more. None of this would have happened. I think Slav would have confirmed that”

Hunk snorted “so…we have three days”

“And no idea what to do!”

When they entered the infirmary, Coran and Pidge were looking at the analysis of Keith’s brain, pointing at some areas, while Shiro checked on him.

“Hey” Pidge greeted him

“So…no torture anymore?”

“Actually… we haven’t eliminated the possibility” 

“Oh” The smile on Lance’s face faded away. He sat on the edge of Keith’s bed, looking at him. He was so strange like that, his wrists still shown the pink scars. Lance felt so sorry for that. He traced with his index finger the line on his pale skin, Keith didn’t even stir… So wrong! He should have already received a punch!

“But we are open to more ideas!” Coran chirped happily.

“How is he?” He asked

“He is resting. Another hour and he will wake up”

Lance bit his lower lip “I know I don’t really know anything about that, but… remember with Alfor? We had his memories stored, we could do that with him and let him talk with…himself, you know?”

They looked at him with open eyes, then looked at each other.

“That could actually work!” Pidge exclaimed 

“IF Keith’s memories are still there” Hunk said

 

“Knowing Keith he would do everything to make himself react” Shiro continued “and we could find out what he would decide!”

“Or… Keith hologram will insult Keith amnesiac making him feel useless and hurt himself” Lance said.

“Or we could just find that alien!” Hunk said earning a common look of confusion.

There was a moment of quiet, in which Keith stirred a bit, before hugging his cushion again, mumbling something about them having to shut up because he was tired.

They laughed quietly, before realizing it “wait, did he just order something to us?”

“Yes!” 

“This means Keith can return back to being himself!”

“I have a plan” Lance said. They turned to look at him “We try all of them! Someone tries to find that dumb alien, while someone stores Keith’s memories and active a hologram, while Shiro… “ he paused, biting his lower lip “finds the most painful memory he has”

They looked at each other and nodded “that’s… not a stupid plan”

“Let’s do it!”


End file.
